


The Casting Off of Earthly Things

by kyrene



Series: Superman Returns/Batman Begins Crossover Timeline [3]
Category: Batman Begins, Superman Returns
Genre: Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-02
Updated: 2010-10-02
Packaged: 2017-10-12 09:11:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/123274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyrene/pseuds/kyrene
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Richard and Lois have some issues to sort out, and Clark is confused. Bruce is still focused.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Casting Off of Earthly Things

He had sold the plane, though he couldn't have said why. Somehow it just wasn't the same anymore. Nothing was.

Since the disaster on the yacht, he hadn't taken Lois up flying. There wasn't any point, was there? When she came in with her hair tousled and smelling of the clouds, he knew where she had been.

Richard had flown with Superman. It had only been a few moments and he had been all pounding adrenaline and terror over the near-deaths of his family, the two beings he loved more than any others, but even with the overpowering fear and the salt-wet and the ice-chill and those two amazingly blue eyes fixed on his, he had felt what it was to fly with Superman.

And that was why he couldn't blame Lois.

One small private plane could not compete with Superman. Nor could a man compete with a god.

+++

"Clark!"

It hadn't been the voice he had been expecting, hailing him before he even set foot on the steps of the Daily Planet building, striking him and holding him still.

Richard White raced over, and it felt as though he had collided against the larger body, but it was only his intensity, his energy that struck Clark Kent like a physical assault. Not an unwelcome one, though.

"Clark, are you all right?" Richard asked, his eyes bright with curiosity and concern as he peered up at the taller man. He raised a hand as though he would grasp Clark's upper arm, but seemed to stop himself at the last moment, fingers twitching. There were deeply creased lines between his brows and he looked a little weary, careworn perhaps, but he was focused entirely on Clark. "Lois said something about an accident?"

Clark blinked, startled. He hadn't expected his hurried excuse to come back on him like this. That was why he had called Lois; she wouldn't ask questions, would just take his vague explanation at face value.

The latest earthquake in Japan had been such a disaster that Superman's presence had been required for two days. Which had necessitated that Clark Kent call in. He should have just said that he was ill; then Richard would not have been worried. But once he had gotten Lois on the phone he had choked up and uttered the first words that sprang to mind.

He was a little confused over _why_ Richard was worried... but Perry's nephew was a sincerely nice guy, and so Clark shouldn't have been surprised, he supposed.

"I'm fine," he assured Richard, smiling sheepishly down at that angular, attractive face. "It wasn't anything." He cast about for an excuse. "I just, um, strained my ankle a l-little, and the doctor... wanted me to stay off of it. That's all."

Richard grimaced, then grinned, patting Clark's arm. "That's good to hear; I mean, that it wasn't something worse. You better watch out for that, though. Ricked ankles are nothing to fool around with. Are you sure you're ready to be back to work?"

"Oh, yes!" Clark assured him, nodding, eyes wide, mentally kicking himself for not thinking of a better story. But he wasn't adept at lying; had been raised to tell the truth. Only sometimes, in order to maintain his disguise, he couldn't tell the truth. "It'll be fine. Don't worry."

Richard gave him a long look, and Clark wondered what was going on behind those lovely, blue-green eyes. Finally, Richard offered him a broad, friendly smile, straight white teeth flashing. "Well, let's get you inside and off that ankle," he said, urging Clark up the stairs with a hand to his upper back. "Perry's going to want to see you first thing. I think he's a little miffed that you called Lois and not him. He _is_ the boss, after all."

Clark loosed a muffled groan, and then smiled ruefully when Richard chuckled.

It was a strange thing to think, after being gone for only two days -- considering that previously he been away for five years -- but it was good to be back.

+++

From the window at the top of Wayne Tower, Gotham looked like a city in the best of health. Clean streets bustling with business men and women, the train long since rebuilt and running regularly, the sky an unusually clear shade of blue on this early autumn day.

That was only on the surface, though. Bruce Wayne knew better, knew what lay beneath the facade. It was the filth underneath that Batman dealt with every night. He'd done a lot in the past several years since his return... but there was still so much left to do.

Today, however, his thoughts weren't on the unending, constant struggle to save his city. No, his mind was quite elsewhere entirely.

Richard White had ceased his probing into Bruce Wayne's past. This was something of a relief, not that he had feared that the man could find out anything to his detriment. He had covered his tracks far too well.

Now it was only a matter of deciding how long to leave Richard White to stew. He did not want the man to forget about him, to distance himself from that moonlit night in Bruce's garden. And yet his own intelligence -- much more effective than the amateur fumblings of Richard White -- told him that there was trouble in paradise, so to speak.

It seemed as though the relationship between Mr. White and his fiancee, Lois Lane, was severely strained at the moment, doubtless due to Superman's return. Bruce didn't feel as though he was being hasty in making this connection. Everyone had known that Lois Lane was the closest thing Superman had had to a love interest before he had departed from Earth. Now he was back, and was it so wild a thought that her human lover might be shunted aside in her affections for something that was so much more?

Bruce knew that he was going to have to tread with delicacy. He had already seen the effects of this storm, when he had dropped by Richard White's office a few days ago. He was fairly certain that his target was not a man who was brought to the edge of tears easily or often. That he had been so distraught while at work was a clear sign that things were on the verge of crumbling.

Bruce would give him a few more days, then, while keeping a weather eye open, so to speak. He had gotten a taste of what Richard White had to offer and he wanted more, but he wasn't the sort to poach on someone else's territory.

Lois Lane clearly did not know what she held. But that was to Bruce's benefit. And he did, indeed, intend to benefit.

There was very little that Bruce Wayne could not turn to his own profit.

+++

There was a bag packed and shoved under his desk. It held a few shirts, a couple pairs of jeans, some clean underwear, and his traveling hygiene kit.

He hadn't moved out yet, but he was ready.

There were only three things keeping him.

Jason's unconditional love for and unwavering faith in his father.

The fact that Lois had not yet told him how she felt.

And the fact that Richard hadn't told Lois how he felt. Until he did that, any desertion would only be a betrayal. And yet it required more courage than he possessed to broach the subject.

How do you start a conversation like that, anyway?

 _"Sorry, honey, I don't think I love you anymore."_

Um, no.

So until he worked that out, figured out how to let her know, waited for her to tell him that it was really Superman that she loved, he would keep the packed bag under his desk.

It was both a comfort and a form of torment, knowing it was there.

That was another thing his father and Perry had trained into him. Always be prepared. Because you never knew what life was going to throw at you.

+++

"You sold your plane?!"

Clark gawped at Richard. Finally realizing that his mouth was hanging open., he snapped it closed, but his eyes were still huge.

Ever since that night, that party at Wayne Manor, since Superman had watched Richard in the garden go down on his knees before Bruce Wayne, Clark had gone out of his way to seek out the man's company. He couldn't have said why. They always ended up talking about the most mundane things, and by the time they parted, every time, Clark had completely forgotten about... that.

And in the process he was coming to think of Richard as a friend.

They ought to have been rivals, or at least indifferent to each other. Clark ought to have held Richard in contempt for his unfaithfulness to Lois in Bruce Wayne's garden; blatant extortion on his host's part or not. But there was a welcoming warmth to Richard that reached out and enveloped Clark before he had even been aware of it happening.

It was a little strange that the man he should have hated was becoming the person he was closest to in Metropolis... and yet it seemed like the most natural thing in the world. Richard made it natural.

Richard really was a good man. This was something Clark had known all along, though he sometimes wished that it wasn't true. Not that Lois and Jason deserved anything less than the best.

Even if Clark really was beginning to wonder who exactly it was that he was jealous of.

+++

It was easy to decide, in the end. He grew weary of waiting, impatience claiming him. Now, it was simply a matter of catching the right opportunity.

Sooner or later, things would fall into place.

If he had his way -- and he knew how to bend fate to do things his way -- it would be sooner rather than later.

Bruce Wayne was used to getting his way.

+++

The storm had been coming to a head, almost without his noticing. He had known that it was growing inside of him, and he had been pretty sure of how Lois felt, but he hadn't been aware enough to notice that Lois could see it too.

In retrospect, that was foolish. Things had gotten strained between them, and he couldn't even say who was really to blame.

Was it even really necessary to assign blame, though?

Maybe in Perry's mind it was. Or maybe he was just fed up with the tension that was permeating the workplace. Either way, Richard shouldn't have been surprised that his uncle was willing and able to force the issue.

It only took one barked out order to get both of them in Perry White's office. Outside the glass walls the bullpen was full of sound and fury, but inside it was like a pocket of frozen time. And as soon as Perry started to speak, informing them as to the reason he had called them in, Richard knew that they were not going to walk out of there the same; something was going to give, because everything had already changed.

Lois wore that exasperated, defiant look that was so familiar, and yet underneath it was something brittle. Richard supposed that he looked something the same, though he fancied he was a bit more resigned than his fiancee. Neither one of them liked Perry poking his nose into their personal business, but the fact was that it was indeed affecting their work. And Richard's uncle had never been one to stand on ceremony.

Lois plopped down in one of the chairs that sat before Perry's desk, but Richard remained standing. He didn't feel comfortable, and there was a part of him that wanted to be ready for a quick get-away. Not that he could really escape Lois' wrath if it came down on his head. They still lived together, after all. And there was Jason.

His lecture winding down, Perry leveled a finger at the two of them, his dark eyes sparking with ire he usually reserved for the terminally underperforming. "I don't care what's gotten into the both of you lately, I want it straightened out before you leave this office. Don't think I won't order you to kiss and make up. Now, I'm going to lunch."

The door slammed closed behind him, the glass rattling in its frame. Richard sighed, feeling tension escape him with a sudden overwhelming sense of fatality. Leave it to his uncle to lay things out on the line. No more dancing around the issue, no more hurting each other with the words that they didn't want to say.

Perry had given them an ultimatum, and Richard didn't intend to leave this office until he and Lois each knew where the other stood. Nor was he the only one who felt that way.

"Your uncle is right, Richard." Lois crossed her skinny legs, then uncrossed them and crossed them the other way, finally rising and pacing over to the window. Richard remained standing near Perry's desk, watching her nervous energy with a sense of mournful nostalgia.

Lois spun, her eyes flashing. "What the hell is going on with us?" She planted her hands on her hips. Richard noted that she wasn't wearing the ring any longer. It should have hurt, but it really didn't; only furthering his certainty that something was broken between them that couldn't be fixed. "And don't you give me that 'it's not you, it's me' crap, because...."

"Oh, I won't." Richard interrupted, folding his arms and fixing her with a steady look. "It's definitely you."

That hauled her up short. She froze in her pacing, her mouth working soundlessly, lashes flickering. "Wh-what?!"

Richard shook his head. That hadn't come out right, and it wasn't completely true. "It's just that... Lois, haven't you noticed the ways that you've changed since--"

" _I've_ changed? _I've_ changed?!" Lois released a snort that Richard almost expected to rattle the glass walls. "I haven't changed, Richard! I'm the same as I always have been!"

And that, Richard realized, was the crux of the matter. Something he hadn't wanted to consider before. Because if the Lois that he had been in love with had never existed... had he ever truly been in love with her?

"You're the one who's changed, Richard!" Lois snapped. "Now, I could understand if you were jealous of Superman--"

"But I'm not," Richard interrupted firmly, then thought that maybe that had been a mistake when he saw Lois' eyes flash, her nostrils flare.

Her voice, though, when she spoke, was bitter and a little cold. "Well, maybe that's the problem, then."

"Excuse me?" Richard blinked. He tried that concept in his head several times, trying to turn it several different ways, but it still made no sense to him. Did... Lois _want_ him to be jealous?

"Oh, never mind!" She waved a hand through the air as though she were attempting to brush the issue away. Richard wasn't going to let it stay there, though. This conversation had been far too long in coming.

"What is it you want from me, Lois?" he asked. He had already decided how he felt. It would be unfair of him not to consider her feelings, her desires on the matter also. He shouldn't be selfish, and he shouldn't just assume that he knew what was best for her.

She blinked at him, drawn up short by this quietly voice question. He thought for a moment that she was going to get angry, fly off the handle at him again. Instead, after a long moment, she deflated, sinking into the chair again and rubbing at one temple.

"I don't know, Richard. I don't know what's wrong, or what's happened to us. It... it wasn't just Superman coming back... was it?"

"I don't think it was," Richard confirmed. He paced over to the window, squinting out into the setting sun. It was clear and crisp out there. The perfect evening for a flight. Then he remembered that he had sold the plane.

"I don't know what's wrong," Lois repeated, sounding lost and helpless. Richard felt the urge to go to her and fold her up in his arms, to tell her everything was going to be all right... but it was already too late for that.

He took a deep breath. There was one thing more that he had to say. Maybe it would give Lois something to latch onto, something that she could lay the blame on. And if it wasn't quite true, she didn't need to know. The truth be told, Richard was uncertain as to whether it was true or false. But at least it was tangible; something that they both could deal with.

"Would it help any if I told you that I thought I was gay?"

And, as he had thought, this brought on a whole new sort of trouble.

Things were going to get a lot more ugly before they got better.

+++

Things were different now, between Richard and Lois. Even someone who wasn't watching them as closely as Clark could see that. Heck, even Jimmy had noticed.

Of course, the blazing row they'd had in Perry's office might have had something to do with that. Clark still couldn't quite believe that Lois had thrown that chair through the glass wall; only a month after Perry had gotten it replaced. He sincerely hoped that she hadn't been trying to hit Richard with it....

Not that it was any of his business. It was also none of his business when Lois retreated to the roof for a cigarette, and Richard left the building entirely.

Though he did find himself fighting the urge to follow Richard. In his plain brown suit as Clark, and then, once that chance and too much time had passed, in the red and blue suit that granted both instant recognition and the greatest anonymity at the same time.

He didn't though. He and Richard were, against all odds, becoming friends, but this was something that he couldn't touch.

He didn't think until later to wonder why he hadn't even considered going to Lois on the rooftop.

+++

Almost as soon as the employees at the Daily Planet building knew, Bruce Wayne knew, despite the fact that he lived in Gotham.

So the storm had broken, a shade earlier than he had expected. Well, that could work to the good; he would just have to modify his plans a little.

He was nothing if not flexible. And things might even work out better this way.

He really was a little surprised at Lois Lane, however. That had been quite an impressive display.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. It really was true.

+++

It was a good thing he had packed that bag. Only one problem, though; all of his work clothes were still in the closet he shared with Lois.

Richard sighed, slumping in his chair. He really didn't want to face Lois right now. But he couldn't wear the same suit tomorrow -- well, the slacks and jacket could go again, but the shirt couldn't. He'd need a fresh shirt, if nothing else.

Maybe he just wouldn't come in to work. Perry was pissed off enough about the glass wall, anyway. Not unreasonably, he considered it to be as much Richard's fault as Lois'. Richard couldn't argue with that, even though he would have liked to.

Lois would cool down, think things through, and eventually get back to Richard, one way or another. He knew this, knew her. But in the meantime, he didn't really feel like sampling the edge of her tongue again. She was understandably bitter, and Richard wondered whether it had been wise to offer her the distraction or not.

Well, either way, it had already been done. He couldn't take it back, and he didn't want to.

It would probably be a good thing to take a day off, to avoid the Daily Planet building and Lois Lane for a few days. So much had happened, and Richard needed some time to put it all into perspective. He needed to know whether he was doing the right thing.

But right or not, things couldn't have continued as they had been going. From that fact if no other he could derive a bit of twisted pleasure.

It didn't really help all that much.

+++

"Hey, Clark, do you want to go out to lunch?"

"Huh?" He blinked, then shook his head slightly. He wasn't hungry. "Oh. No, no thanks."

It wasn't until he heard the heels clicking sharply away that he realized that he had just turned down an invitation from Lois Lane. His very first ever invitation from Lois. And now, what would probably be his _last_ invitation from Lois. It surprised him a little, how much this did not disturb him.

But it wasn't until he dragged his gaze away from Richard White, sitting slumped in his office, his profile catching in the light of his window in the best way to etch his cheekbones stark against thin flesh, that he recognized exactly _why_ it didn't bother him.

Which revelation in itself rendered him even more confused.

When had Lois' fiancee come to mean more to him than Lois herself?

+++

That night in the garden had been a random thing, or so he had thought. How it had grown in his mind to something of an obsession was a matter of mystery, though not entirely unexpected. He had an intense nature, and when things struck him, they struck deeply.

Alfred had absolutely no idea of what he was doing. It was better that way. The Wayne family retainer was an invaluable ally when it came to his crime-fighting -- Bruce couldn't have done it without Alfred's help -- but this was something that he wouldn't understand. And so he was kept in the dark.

The dark was Batman's venue, but in this particular instance, it became the playground that Bruce Wayne sought.

Because hero, vigilante, or man, his soul was dark. Evil could grow in the darkness, but so also could desire.

And right now there was only one thing that he desired.

+++

He was just so weary. Everything had fallen apart, and he couldn't figure out why. It hadn't been Superman's return, he was sure of that, though that had probably accelerated the situation. Somewhere in the living of daily life, he and Lois had lost each other. It wasn't anyone's fault. It was just something that had happened.

So why did it have to hurt so much?

Living meant pain, pain meant life. But he'd just as soon be numb.

Maybe that was why he had sold the plane. How could he fly now, when his heart was wrapped up so tightly in despair?

And would he ever be able to fly again?


End file.
